


Starlit Waltz

by EverAtYourSide



Series: Promptis Week 2017 [4]
Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Bring on all the adorable fluff, M/M, Promptis Week, Prompto is super insecure, The Bros tearin' up Altissia, but Noctis believes in him so thats all that matters, good enough
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-14
Updated: 2017-09-14
Packaged: 2018-12-29 17:16:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 19,049
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12089658
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EverAtYourSide/pseuds/EverAtYourSide
Summary: Noctis is invited to an exclusive, high-profile celebration being held in Altissia after the revelation that both he and Luna are in-fact alive after mistakenly being declared dead after the attack on Insomnia. Cue Prompto insisting that he shouldn't go because he knows his lack of experience in all things high-class would just serve to embarrass himself and Noctis by association. There has never been any question in Noctis's mind that Prompto is and has always been good enough for such things, but how will he make the blonde see that as well?





	Starlit Waltz

**Author's Note:**

> Day 4 - Good Enough - ~~Favorite Trope~~
> 
> I'll be honest when I say that I have been particularly excited about Day 4, as this was definitely the prompt I've spent the majority of my time working on for this week. I honestly wasn't expecting it to grow into the absolute monster that it turned into... but! I had so much fun writing it, I just couldn't help myself! I hope that people won't be too put off by the sheer length of it, I promise it will be a wild ride of sheer adorableness! 
> 
> I actually got the inspiration for this fic when I was listening to "Starlit Waltz" from the FFXV OST and I basically just wanted an excuse to write a fic where Noct and Prompto got to dance together at some super ritzy ball-type function. I highly recommend listening to it if you have a quick minute and want to get a better feel of what inspired me to write this. The link can be found here --> [Starlit Waltz](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZnTCku_KHcw)
> 
> Hope you enjoy!!

“We’re almost there…! Just… a little longer…” A dark-haired youth was gasping between harried breaths.

“It’s no use Noct; It’s too late for me…” The blonde wheezed between unsuccessful attempts of taking a deep breath while desperately trying to keep pace alongside the raven-haired male. “Just leave me behind… it’s the only way… to save yourself…”

“God help me Prompto, if you so much as slow down one step I will strangle you myself.” Another voice cut through the almost deafening surroundings. The owner of the gruff voice was much larger than either of the other two boys and looked to be a few years older as well.

“Might I suggest that instead of bickering with each other, we concentrate fully on getting out of this mess?” A fourth voice now joined the sortie, this one much calmer and more controlled than any of the ones before.

“But my hair Iggy…!” The blonde exclaimed, “I managed to get it just the way I like it this morning and now it’s completely ruined…!” Prompto moaned as he started running his hands through his completely soaked blonde strands, hanging limp and lifeless in front of his face. “If Gladio hadn’t made us stop at that fancy cup noodles stand by the coliseum, we would have been able to get back to the hotel before the rain started pouring down with an unholy vengeance…”

“Hey! They were running a special on a new _limited-edition_ flavor of cup noodles that can only be bought here in Altissia; you really expect me to pass up an opportunity like that??” Gladio came back sharply. “I bet if someone didn’t waste over an hour taking endless pictures of every single fountain, storefront, or animal we’ve passed by today, we would have been back with plenty of time to spare.” The shield quickly retorted.

“You’re just jealous because my pictures will last forever and you can only enjoy your noodles for the few seconds while you’re actually eating them…” Prompto replied, sticking his tongue back out at the larger man.

“You just keep talking Blondie, we’ll see who comes out on top later…” Gladio came back and Prompto could swear he felt a slight chill right now down his spine. Gladio was a tricky one to get into a back and forth with because you never knew when he might strike. After the two of them had gotten into a small prank war of sorts, Prompto had made a note to himself to never do it again. Gladio’s method was a very patient one, so you could easily go weeks without anything happening, all the while being on edge that tonight could be the night that all hell broke loose. It was the anticipation more so than the actual payout that had driven the gunner absolutely insane.

“Okay, that’s enough you two; I can see the hotel just beyond the next building. The faster we get there, the faster we can get out of this weather and try to regroup and get cleaned up back in our room.” The stoic advisor cut in between the two bickering boys in front of him.

Ignis very clearly recalled pointing out the dark storm clouds that had been rolling in over the past few hours, but seeing as this was the first full day since their group had arrived in Altissia, everyone else had been absolutely captivated by exploring the breathtaking and intricate city; and in their attempt to see and do as much as they could, the three other members of their party had quickly brushed the advisor’s concerns aside. It was only once they heard the first crash of thunder and witnessed the skies break open to soak the wayward brothers, that they finally decided to start the long trek back to the Leville.

It was a bit late for Ignis to say I told you so, but it wouldn’t be a lie to say that the bespectacled blonde would be tempted if the opportunity came along.

“Well that was fun…” Noctis laughed sarcastically as the group of four made their way inside and gathered briefly in the lobby at long last; glad to finally be out of the unrelenting rainstorm outside. All four of them were completely drenched to the bone, their clothes utterly saturated, soaked and dripping onto the spotless hotel floor.

Ignis was pretty sure that the Leville staff would not be terribly pleased with their grand entrance, not to mention the fact that they were dripping water all over the previously immaculate floor; but considering the circumstances, there really wasn’t that much to be done about it now.

“I think it would be best if we retire to our room for the night.” Ignis stated, hoping it would prompt the other three in starting the trek to the room and the staff would be able to start cleaning up before another guest accidentally slipped on the large puddles of water now quickly formed around their feet.

“Yeah, sounds good.” The young prince nodded as he tried to stifle a large yawn. “I’m beat... think I’m going to flop down on the bed the second we get up to the room.”

“Mmmmm… yeah. That sounds like a great plan, buddy. Mind if I join you?” Prompto added as he casually wrapped his arms around the raven, resting his face on the other’s shoulder either not remembering or caring that Noct’s jacket was still completely saturated with water, not unlike his own.

“You two are not to so much as touch your bed until you get all those wet clothes off and put some clean, dry clothes on.” Ignis chided the two younger males as they slowly started to make their way back towards the prominent staircase, leading up to the guest rooms.

“I don’t think that we are going to have any trouble with getting our clothes off… it’s going to be the whole getting our other clothes on that might be the issue, eh Prom?” Noctis grinned as he softly prodded the blonde playfully with his elbow, which caused said boy’s cheeks to turn a shade of bright red.

“N-Noct...” Prompto moaned, thoroughly embarrassed and surprised at how casual Noct was acting, even when they were still very much in a public place. “Not while we’re still down here in the lobby…! S-Someone might hear you…”

With the apparent death of both the bride and groom and the utter collapse of the peace treaty between Lucis and Niflheim, it hadn’t taken long for the wedding between the Lucian prince and the oracle to be called off. With that, the gunner and prince had able to find comfort in each other in the midst of all the darkness that had been consuming them and in the wake of the destruction of their home.

When Noctis had first asked Prompto out, the blonde had nearly fallen over in shock. Eventually, the startled gunner managed to gather himself long enough to utter a quick, squeaky agreement. Ever since then, the two had become even more inseparable than they had been before, if that was even possible.

It wasn’t to say that the two were attempting to hide their relationship per say, Noctis certainly never seemed to care about how he acted in public and Prompto would never say that he was embarrassed by his relationship with the prince. He thanked the six every day that he been somehow blessed enough to even have the chance to be with Noct, but that didn’t mean that he wasn’t aware of what would happen if people found out that the two of them were closer than just a Prince and his bodyguard.

Noctis was royalty. He was the prince, well now king really, of the kingdom of Lucis. There were certain things that was expected of royalty and if people heard that the Lucian heir was not only dating another guy, but a commoner with no connection to Lucian nobility no less, the media would have a field day. Both he and Noct and probably Iggy and Gladio too, would constantly be mobbed by reporters who would wonder why, when Noctis could have anyone in the entirety of Eos by his side…. why had he chosen someone so… well, unremarkable...?

“If you don’t want people to hear us, then we better get upstairs fast, before I can’t help myself and start taking off your clothes right here.” Noctis teased as Prompto was torn away from his constant worrying.

“I’m going, I’m going…!” The blonde whined as he practically started racing up the stairs.

“Um, excuse me, Sirs… this is the royal retinue and escort to his Highness, Prince Noctis Lucis Caelum of the kingdom of Lucis?” A questioning and inquisitive voice broke through the boy’s clamoring up the stairs to their room.

At the mention of his name, the raven-haired male who had been right behind the blonde in front of him turned back towards the voice and noticed that the man who had spoken was obviously one of the employees that worked at the Leville.

“Who’s asking?” he responded, his eyebrows raised and unsure why the man would approach them. Was he mad that they were tracking water all over the lobby? Well, there really wasn’t much they could do about that, but the soaked prince couldn’t think of any other reason why he would want to talk to him.

“Excuse me for interrupting your return, your highness,” the man bowed as he continued to address the group before him. “We received a correspondence earlier today, here at the Leville, and were told to make sure that it was delivered directly to his Highness, Noctis Lucis Caelum.”

Ignis, who was the closest of the four to the young man carrying a large and very delicately designed, gold-accented envelope that was clearly addressed to “His Highness, Noctis Lucis Caelum, heir to the Lucian throne.” extended his outstretched arm enough to grasp the envelope in such a way that he would not dampen it. 

“I will accept on behalf of his highness, thank you very much.” The advisor nodded his thanks and after a quick bow, the young attendant quickly retreated.

“What’s it say, Specs?” The prince questioned from his spot, still frozen half-way up the staircase.

“I can assure you, the matter can wait until we all manage to get out of these wet clothes. We don’t want anyone catching a cold while we are here taking care of important matters with the Hydraean.” Ignis replied coolly.

“Fine….” Noctis sighed, “Comon, Prom… let’s go get changed.” The prince continued as he playfully pushed at the blonde’s still stock still form near the top of the stairs. “I could definitely go for a nice hot shower… you wanna join me?” Noctis grinned playfully as he noticed the blonde’s cheeks become an even darker shade of red than they had before.

“Keep in mind we only have _one room_ , so know if you get into a funny business in there, Iggy and I are going to be right outside the bathroom and will be able to hear everything that goes on in that shower.” The large shield joked as he watched the two boys run off down the hallway towards the room that they had booked for the duration of their stay in Altissia.

“Yeah, yeah…!” Noctis shouted back before he and Prompto disappeared into the room. “Don’t get mad, just because you’re jealous, big guy. Don’t worry, there’s plenty of people in this city and odds are you should be able to land at least one of them if you wanted…!” The prince disappeared inside, and Gladio was left rolling his eyes, sighing loudly.

“Seems like we’re in for an uh, lively night, eh Iggy?” Gladio asked, his shoulders shrugging, knowing the situation couldn’t be helped.

“Indeed, things do look that way.” The advisor nodded in agreement as the second half of the retinue had finally reached the door to their room, the sound of the shower already loud and clear.

Much to the Gladio’s surprise, Noctis and Prompto were actually finished and out of the shower in less time that he had expected. The shield gladly took advantage of the now vacant bathroom to jump in the shower himself. He would never admit it, but the best part about staying in an actual hotel was definitely taking a hot shower. He loved camping and would never pass up an opportunity to do so, but there was something quite relaxing about being able to take a nice hot shower before passing out for the rest of the night.

As the shield disappeared back into the bathroom, Noctis and Prompto quickly changed into some comfortable sleeping clothes and Noctis’s attention was now back on the letter that had been delivered to them downstairs, which was still in the bespectacled advisor’s hands.

“Any idea who it’s from?” the curious prince asked, as he took a seat on the bed opposite the one where Ignis was currently sitting and was quickly followed by the blonde gunner.

“There doesn’t seem to be any kind of return address, so I can’t say for sure. Although, the stationary looks exceptionally expensive, so I can only assume it must be from someone of high social standing here in Altissia.” The advisor mused as he carefully surveyed all sides of the elegantly addressed envelope.

“I guess there’s no other choice but to open it…!” Prompto quipped excitedly from where he sat next to Noctis, whose eyes had yet to leave the small letter in his advisor’s steady hands.

“Hand it over then, and I’ll open it.” Noctis added as he motioned for Ignis to hand the letter over. It was addressed to him after all, so he should probably be the one to open it. However, before Noctis could reach out and grab the letter, Ignis shook his head.

“I don’t see any reason to think that there is anything suspicious about this particular letter,” Ignis explains with a stoic and straight expression on his face, obviously still very deep in thought about the purpose of this mysterious letter. “But as your advisor and protector, I must insist that you allow me to be the one who opens it. Just to make sure there aren’t any _unexpected surprises_ waiting for whoever opens it. It was addressed and hand-delivered directly to you without a return address, so it wouldn’t be completely out of the question to think that this could be some kind of trick…”

“But then if-” Noctis started to argue, but before he could so much as get out another word, Ignis had already ripped open the envelope and pulled out the parchment which lay inside. He saw the advisor start to scan the contents of the message, and hoped that his expression would betray some sort of idea of what kind of words it contained, but Iggy always had the best poker-face of the group.

“So… what’s it say, Iggy?” Prompto asked curiously as he craned his neck in the advisor’s direction, hoping to get a glance at the contents of the letter, but still being lazy enough to not want to actually get up and look at it.

“It seems to be some sort of invitation-” The advisor started, before the paper was ripped out of his hands.

“Invitation for what…? We just got here like, yesterday… how did they even know we were here?” Noctis asked, confused as his eyes roamed the piece of paper in his hands.

Now with the Noct holding the invitation, it was much easier for Prompto to see what was actually written on the extravagant paper in some sort of really decorative calligraphy:

_We request the greatest honor of your presence at the Gala celebrating the life of our reverent oracle, her Lady Lunafreya and her formerly betrothed, his Majesty, Noctis Lucis Caelum, heir to the throne of the great kingdom of Lucis._

_Please respond at your earliest convenience, by notifying the Leville Staff of your availability and they will inform you of the time and place. We look forward to receiving your response._

“Hmmm…” Noctis murmured as he read over the invitation a few more times to make sure he hadn’t read it wrong the first few times. “Looks some sort of high society group here in Altissia is having some kind of fancy-ass function to celebrate the fact that Luna and I aren’t dead?” The prince wondered curiously out loud as he continued to try and wrap his mind around the content of the letter he had just finished reading through.

 “With all the tragedy that has happened recently, I can see why there would be cause for celebrating the return of the beloved oracle, Lady Lunafreya and the young Lucian prince who was previously presumed dead in the attack on Insomnia.” The blonde advisor reasoned.

“I guess…” Noctis mused. “But it still seems like I dunno… a bit early to be celebrating?”

“Sometimes people find it necessary to celebrate the small victories so that way we don’t become overwhelmed with all the troubles we have yet to face.” Ignis replied once again before continuing, “Perhaps this is a good opportunity to get into the good graces of the First Secretary. Our goal here has not changed, and if we truly wish to help Lady Lunafreya forge the covenant with the Hydraean, then we need to find a way to gain Camelia’s favor, and this may be just the chance that we have been searching for in which to do so.”

“Well, you guys have fun with that… bring me back some cake though, will ya?” Prompto laughed lightly as he clapped his hand on Noct’s back, breaking the careful exchange between the two.

“What the hell, Prom…” Noctis came back quickly, confused by the blonde’s sudden exclamation. “Why wouldn’t you be coming with us?”

“Do you see my name anywhere on that invitation?” The blonde laughed trying to cover up the deep-seated feeling of insecurity which was slowly growing and blossoming in his gut, “I think it’s pretty obvious that I’m not the kind of person that they want there.”

“Do you see Iggy or Gladio’s name anywhere on here either? I don’t, and yet is there any question that they wouldn’t be coming?” Noctis came back quickly, eyes softening only when he noticed how withdrawn the blonde had suddenly become. His shoulders were now slumped and the blonde had proceeded to busy himself with staring absently down at the comforter he was sitting on, while fidgeting with his hands.

“Yeah, well Iggy and Gladio are nobility and have worked with the Lucian royal family since they were kids… Ignis is your royal advisor and Gladio is your sworn shield. No-one would bat an eye if they show up with you.” The blonde paused, refusing to make eye contact with the boy sitting next to him. “I’m well…” he hesitated again, before finally continuing, “I’m not a noble… in fact, I don’t have any official ties to royalty or the aristocracy in anyway… I’m just some commoner from Lucis who was lucky enough to befriend the prince. Even if they did let me in for some reason, I know I’d just stick out like a sore thumb and end up making you look bad or something…” Prompto moaned as he finally fell silent.

“So you’re saying that you’re just going to let me go to this huge thing and make me deal with all those stuffy nobles all by my lonesome?” Noctis pouted playfully.

“Iggy and Gladio are going to be-”

“I’m not dating either of them, now am I?” Noctis came back without hesitation.

Prompto groaned at the stubbornness of his determined boyfriend. It was clear that it was not going to be easy to explain to said boyfriend, why trying to take him to this thing was a really, _really_ bad plan.

“Do you really have time for me to spend the rest of the night listing all the reasons that me going with you guys to that fancy event thing would be a really terrible idea?” The blonde joked, trying to sound casual but unable to stop the nervous waver in his voice.

“Yeah, I would actually,” The raven-haired youth replied in a completely serious tone. “That way I can tell you that you’re being ridiculous with every single one of them.”

The blonde groaned once again. He really had meant that as more of a rhetorical question, but of freaking course Noct would call him out on it. Where should he even begin, there were so many reasons floating around in his head right now, he couldn’t think how to even start to narrow down the reasons.

Prompto was an awkward person around people he didn’t know and that certainly would not help him when all of the elite of the elite showed up at this thing and Prompto was expected to hold a conversation with them… he knew, he just knew that his lack of knowledge of how anything worked with nobility would probably cause him to say something or do something that would embarrass not just him, but Noct by proxy. The skinny gunner knew that he would never be able to live with himself if he did something to tarnish Noct’s reputation as the leader of Lucis like that… so it would definitely be best if he just wasn’t there at all.

There was a small part of the blonde that had hoped if he didn’t say anything, Noct would let the issue go, but seeing as said prince was still staring intently at him waiting for an answer, that didn’t seem like he was about to let that fly.

“So….” Noctis uttered slowly as he continued to stare intently at the blonde. “I’m still waiting for your supposed never-ending list of bullshit reasons that you can’t come with me to this thing…”

Prompto sighed heavily, trying to figure out which of the hundreds of reasons currently floating around in his head would be the hardest for Noct to refute.

“Okay fine.” Prompto sighed, “Well, for one, I definitely don’t have any clothes that are going to be anywhere even in the same universe of clothes that are expected to be worn at this thing and I definitely don’t think people would appreciate me showing up while wearing my Crownsguard uniform.” Prompto finished as he finally settled for what seemed like him to be pretty much a deal-breaker.

To this sentiment, the prince merely shrugged like it was totally and completely a non-issue. “I was probably just going to wear the stuff that I brought for the wedding… might as well give it some use since the wedding definitely isn’t going to happen. Why don’t you just do that same thing?” he asked.

“Okay, yeah… I did pack stuff for the wedding and all, but it’s nothing all that fancy.” Prompto answered in response to the Prince’s query. “All I brought was a nice button-up t-shirt, one of the ties that I dug out of my old man’s closet, and a new pair of dress pants that I managed to save up enough to buy right before we left Insomnia. I don’t know about you, but there’s something that tells me that just isn’t going to cut it.” The blonde finished, a twinge of sarcasm emphasizing the last half of that statement.

This time it was not Noct that countered his protests, but Ignis, the man who had for the last few minutes sat back and remained silent, listening carefully to the exchanges between the other two boys in the room.

“Well, as luck may have it,” Ignis chimed in optimistically, “We do happen to find ourselves staying in the midst of the beautifully large and elegant city of Altissia… and if nothing else, Altissia does have a reputation and is well known all around Eos for it’s modern, high-end fashion boutiques.” The man hummed quietly as he brought his hand up to his chin, deep in thought. “I’m sure we could secure something suitable for you to wear to the Gala without too much trouble.” The adept strategist finished.

“Yeah, that would be great and all…” Prompto sighed, finally bringing his head up just enough so that he could make eye contact with Ignis. “But Iggy… you of all people should know that that’s never going to work. I can’t imagine that anything suitable for wearing to this thing would come cheap at all… those kinds of clothes have to be uber expensive…! There’s no way that we have enough gil to waste on something like that. Who are you, and what have you done with the real Ignis?” Prompto laughed. There was no way that he was going to let Ignis and Noct just throw away all that gil that the four of them had worked so hard to earn on something like some totally unecessary, fancy clothes for him to wear for probably all of one night before they were packed away forever with the rest of his stuff. He could see buying fancy stuff like that for Noct… but definitely not for someone as unimportant as him.

“I assure you that I am the one and only.” Ignis chuckled lightly. “I can also assure you that I’m sure we will be able to work something out in order to manage it into our current finances.”

A seriously shit-eating grin was now settled quite permanently on Noctis’s face, now that it seemed as though Ignis was on his side with this particular issue.

Prompto couldn’t help but let out a loud groan as he quickly realized that he was definitely being double-teamed. Sure, they had said that they would be able to work around the whole no clothes thing; but the two Lucians before him had only begun to start to scratch the surface of his deep insecurities in dealing with noble affairs.

“Okay, fine.” The gunner pouted. “Let’s say by some miracle we actually manage to get our hands on something for me to wear without completely breaking the bank and I go with you guys to this thing… aren’t these fancy parties basically an excuse for all of these fancy rich people to spent the entire night dancing and talking amongst each other, bragging about who they know and how much money they have?” The blonde frowned even deeper. “Yeah, just because I have the clothes doesn’t mean that I won’t look like a complete dumbass. I have absolutely no idea how to do any of that fancy ballroom dancing… take me to a club and I will totally dance the night away, but try to put me in a ballroom and I have absolutely no idea what the fuck I’m doing.”

“It’s really not as difficult as it looks, Prom-” Noctis started before he was cut off by the blonde’s loud groaning.

“Of course, _you’d_ say that!” Prompto shouted, perhaps a bit more forceful that he had wanted to, as he threw his hands up above his head in frustration. “You’re the Crown Prince! You grew up surrounded by all this stuff on a daily basis, so of course it seems like second nature to you! You, Iggy and Gladio all were born into that world and well… I wasn’t. All that high-society stuff might as well be from a different planet for all the experience and exposure that I have with it…” The suitably frazzled blonde finished, his voice now practically a whisper, which was quite the drastic change from mere moments ago when he had been loudly shouting.

“Prom-” Noctis tried again, bringing his hand up to reassure the blonde, but being surprised when said blonde shrugged his hand off sharply.

“I’m sorry…” Prompto breathed tiredly after a few more seconds of silence. “I didn’t mean to yell, but I can promise you that the only thing I would be good for would be embarrassing you guys and that’s the last thing that I want to do. Just trust me; it will be better for all of us if I just stay here, so there’s no chance of that actually happening.” Prompto could feel the tears that were starting gather in the corners of his eyes and quickly tried to brush them aside. It would be stupid to start crying about something so small… he was already embarrassed enough having to explain all the reasons why he wasn’t good enough to accompany Noct to this damn fancy celebration thing, and he was certainly not going to add sobbing his eyes out like some school girl who had been stood up by the boy she had a crush on. He wanted to retain at least some semblance of dignity.

An uneasy silence consumed the room with the three boys, no-one daring to be the one to break it first.

“What the heck is going on in here?” Gladio’s voice surprised the three, the shield having no reservations in being the one to shatter the silence that had descended as he wandered out of the bathroom and proceeded to sit on the side of the bed where Ignis was already situated, a fluffy, white towel wrapped lazily around his shoulders. “Is this about that letter for Noct we got downstairs?”

Neither Noct, nor Prompto answered, and instead chose to awkwardly avoid Gladio’s questioning look and so the shield turned his attention towards the only other man in the room that might be able to explain why the air felt heavier in here than in the very humid bathroom he had just left.

“So… Iggy you going to fill me in on this or what?” Gladio probed since no-one else seemed as though they were planning on coming forward on their own.

The astute advisor cleared his throat, before finally answering with a short, “We’ve been invited to a Gala in Luna and Noct’s honor and the celebration of their supposed return from the dead.”

“Okay…” Gladio paused as he tried to wrap his mind around the idea and why it was so problematic, “So… the problem with that is what exactly?”

Ignis looked briefly over towards Prompto, but when it was clear that the blonde was not going to say anything, he sighed and continued on himself, “Prompto is… concerned about his lack of experience with such events, which is complete nonsense, but it seems he has already convinced himself otherwise.”

At this revealing sentiment, the large shield couldn’t help but let out a deep, guttural spout of laughter.

“You serious? That’s the reason that things are so crazy tense in here?” Gladio couldn’t help but let out another loud laugh. “I thought it was something serious…!”

“Hey, this is serious!!” Prompto shouted, suddenly shaken out of his previous stupor by the shield’s complete dismissal of the issue. “You might not think it’s a big deal, but _I do_ …! And I’m sure as hell not going to just sit here and be laughed at...! I’m outta here.” Prompto muttered angrily as he quickly stood up and had already slammed the door behind him before Gladio had a chance to say anything to stop him. The blonde could definitely feel the tears building once again, threatening to start cascading down his face now more than ever. Prompto knew that if he didn’t get away from the others now, he wouldn’t be able to stop himself from bursting into tears right on the spot; and that was _not_ going to happen if he had anything to say about it.

“What’s gotten into him?” Gladio wondered aloud, moments after Prompto had stormed out of the room. Before he had gotten in the shower, said blonde had seemed as though he was in an incredibly good mood, so what could have happened in the short time that he had been showering in the bathroom to change that so drastically?

“As I said before, it seems as though our young friend Prompto has somehow gotten the idea in his head that he is unqualified to be seen at such an event, and his presence would be nothing but a detriment to our company.” Ignis sighed.

“Which is completely stupid, by the way…” Noctis muttered more to himself than either of the two other men in the room. The raven’s focus had still not left the door of which the blonde had stormed out though moments ago.

“Well it’s not like it takes that much to learn how to act and what to say to play nice with stuffed shirts…” Gladio replied, a much more serious expression making its way onto his features.

“Well, I was about to offer to give Prompto a few etiquette lessons to help him feel more confident with such matters before you came in, laughed in his face, and caused him to storm out…” The cook replied curtly.

 “How the hell was I supposed to know that he would blow up like that…?!” Gladio shot back defensively. It wasn’t much earlier that the two of them had been going back and forth kidding around with each other just before they had gotten back to the room… who knew the kid’s mood would change so drastically over the course of a quick shower?? “Okay Mr. Man With a Plan… what do you suggest we do now?”

Ignis let out an audible sigh and started to open his mouth so as to reply to the shield, when all of sudden it was Noctis that spoke up instead.

“I can’t take just sitting here…” The raven cut in impatiently. “I’m going after Prompto. You two can sit here and try to figure something out, but I’m going to go and try to find where he ran off to in the meanwhile.” The prince finished with an expression that dared either of the other two to argue. Noctis certainly wasn’t about to let his boyfriend continue to think that his lack of some stupid title or position automatically made the blonde unworthy of being with him just because he was royalty. That was completely and utterly ridiculous.

“We shall do our best, your highness.” Ignis nodded as he bowed slightly towards his younger charge.

Without so much as another word, Noctis quickly jumped up off the bed and darted swiftly over towards and out the door through which the gunner had disappeared behind moments ago.

Right after he left the room though, Noctis suddenly realized that he really didn’t have any idea where Prompto could have run off to. Retreating to the Regalia, as Prompto sometimes did when he was upset, was obviously not a feasible option at the moment, seeing as it was still being stored below the deck of his dad’s old boat. The raven really hoped that Prompto hadn’t been so out of sorts that he would leave the Leville anyway, because if he did, there would be no way that Noctis would be able to comb the entire city of Altissia to find the wayward blonde. _Okay… so where in the hotel would he go??_ Noctis thought to himself as he walked towards the large staircase which led to the main part of the lobby.

“Hmm…” the Lucian prince mused to himself as he tried to wrack his brain and think of any place in particular that might have stood out in the blonde’s mind as he retreated from their guest room. “If I were Prompto, where would I hide…?” he continued to mutter to himself, while still drawing a complete blank of places that he might seek out and letting out a huge groan. “Wow… I must be the worst boyfriend ever… first, I didn’t realize how much this kind of stuff bothered him, and then I just let him run off by himself without even trying to stop him. Now…? Now I don’t even know where to start looking for him.”

At this point, the raven-haired prince had made it down into the lobby and it was completely deserted except for a single, young female attendant standing by at the front desk to make sure that all guests were taken care of among making sure things were running smoothly in the hotel at all times.

“Hey..!” Noctis called loudly over in the woman’s direction. “Uh, you seen a blonde guy about my age and size come through here recently?” He asked abruptly, as he approached the desk, making the poor unsuspecting woman jump back.

“G-Good E-Evening...!” The timid blonde girl who couldn’t have been more than a few years older than Noctis squeaked as she tried to calm down from suddenly being approached by the dark-haired youth who had seemingly come out of no-where. “Uh, well… there was this one guy who rushed through the lobby a few minutes ago and he seemed like he was in quite the hurry…” The woman muttered as she thoughtfully brought her fingers to lightly tap at her temple as though that would help draw the faint memory out more readily. “I didn’t really get a good look at him, but I’m pretty sure he darted back down that hallway over there,” the young blonde pointed towards a rather inconspicuous looking doorway hidden away towards the back of the lobby. “I’m not really sure why he would have gone that way to be honest, because the only thing down that particular hallway are the stairs to the fire escape. Since that particular stairwell doesn’t connect directly to any of our guest rooms, no-one ever uses them unless it’s some kind of emergency.”

Noctis quickly thanked the woman and tore off towards the doorway that she had indicated, hoping that Prompto hadn’t gotten too much further. The raven had been ready to start sprinting up the stairs if necessary when he finally neared the stairwell, suddenly freezing when he could have sworn he heard a quiet sniffling noise from the shadows beneath the lowest flight of stairs. Noctis stayed completely still as he listened to see if he would be able to hear the soft sound again; and as luck would have it, after a few seconds they came again and Noctis knew that he couldn’t have imagined it.

Slowly, the raven-haired youth walked past the stairs until he was able to make out the familiar tuft of blonde hair he had run his fingers through and played with on an almost daily basis.

“Prom-?” he whispered carefully.

At the mention of his name, the figure froze for the briefest of moments before trying to furiously wipe away the evidence that he definitely hadn’t just been sitting here hidden away in the shadows crying his eyes out, because he was so overwhelmed that he just didn’t know what else to do. Nevertheless, after a few seconds of trying to don a mask that was obviously fake, he uttered a soft and choked, “Please… just go back to the room, Noct… I’ll be back at some point and I promise I’ll be back to my usual cheerful self. I… I just need to be a-alone right now.”

“Yeah… like I’m going to just leave you here by yourself and allow you to beat yourself up over something that’s not even true.” Noctis muttered as he took a small, hopefully unnoticed step closer to the curled-up form of the blonde who had done quite the job in wedging himself about as far back as he could possibly get between the underside of the stairs and the hard, concrete floor.

“But that’s just it Noct… it doesn’t matter what you, or Iggy, or Gladio think… it’s what everyone else is going to think that’s the problem.” The blonde replied, the complete exhaustion and silent acceptance in his tone, striking the raven-haired prince as though he had been shot with a gun.

“You listen, and you listen good okay, Prom?” Noctis instantly replied, dropping down to his knees, so he could scoot even closer to the still lightly sniffling gunner. “I. Don’t. Care. I don’t care what other people may think about my decisions about the company I keep. I’m going to do my best to be even a fraction the kind of king that my father was, but what I’m not going to do is to make myself miserable for the sake of keeping up appearances for other people. You will _never_ be an embarrassment to me. You could make a complete fool of yourself in front of the entirety of Altissia for all I care, and you know what? I wouldn’t love you a single bit less.”

“Maybe you wouldn’t… but I-” Prompto started, but Noctis refused to even let him finish the thought.

“I don’t care that you don’t come from a noble family or any of that stuff…” Noctis continued as he had finally gotten close enough so that he could grab Prompto’s slender wrists and pull the boy gently towards him and away from his rather uncomfortable looking hiding spot. Now that he could see his face more clearly, Noct used the sleeve of his shirt to wipe away the last remaining dampness on the blonde’s cheeks that said blonde had been unable to wipe away himself when the prince had first found him.

“All I want is you by my side, just as you are. But if you _really_ want to learn how to act like a boring old nobility, I promise that between Iggy, Gladio and I, we will be able to make sure that you’re ready to make your grand appearance come the Gala in the next few days, okay?” As if to tie off the end of his argument, Noctis quickly pressed his lips up against Prompto’s and captured the blonde in a reassuring and tender kiss. It took a few seconds, but the raven was glad that it wasn’t long before Prompto pressed in and returned it, their lips locking together for a few moments, before the two finally broke apart.

“So, whatdya say, Prom? Would you do me the honor of being my date to the Gala in my honor here in Altissia?” Noctis asked slowly, as a playful smile once again returned to his face, refusing to break the eye contact between him and his lover.

Prompto was still nervous that he would probably find a way to screw things up and embarrass Noct in front of everyone, but it was pretty clear that Noct wasn’t going to take no for an answer. He was so confident and assuring that the blonde couldn’t help but go along with it, so with a quick nod and a soft,

“Yeah, okay.” The gunner could feel his cheeks heating up as he started to blush, but he couldn’t help but smile as he practically melted into the prince’s warm and welcoming embrace. The two boys simply stayed that way, wrapped within each other’s arms for a few minutes longer, not saying or doing anything else until Prompto had been able to relax and collect himself to a point where they felt they could start heading back to their room.

* * *

 

“I’m sorry I stormed out on you guys before…” Prompto uttered softly after he and Noct had finally made their way back to the guest room that they had booked for their stay.

“Hold up.” Gladio now interceded before the gunner could say much more, “I’m pretty sure that I should be the one apologizing here, not the other way around.” It wasn’t often that the burly bodyguard looked so unsure and apprehensive, so it was an unusual scene for those within the vicinity to say the least. “I didn’t realize that this was something that bothered you that much. For that, I _am_ sorry, Prompto.” Gladio apologized, pausing briefly to see how the blonde would react.

“It’s okay, big guy. It really wasn’t your fault…” Prompto replied as casually as he could, still unable however, to quite look the shield directly in his eyes. “It’s just something stupid that’s been bothering me for a while and I guess I kinda overreacted, sorry bout that.”

 “Don’t worry about it.” Gladio smirked as he clapped the kid lightly on his back. “We all have things that get under our skin, so just maybe let me know next time so that I know where to draw the line, okay?”

“Yeah thanks, Gladio.” Prompto smiled, looking up at the shield finally and thankful to see nothing but understanding from the larger man. “So, um… about helping me get ready for this thing…?” the blonde started nervously as he squeezed tightly the hand that was still held securely within Noct’s grasp.

“Seeing as I believe we have had quite enough excitement for one night, I suggest that for now, we retire to our beds and get a good night’s sleep.” Of course, it would be Ignis that would be the one to answer, Prompto laughed silently. Ignis was always the one who always came up with the best and most thorough plans. “I can’t imagine that the Gala will be as soon as tomorrow seeing as we just received the invitation tonight, so I am quite certain that we will have plenty of time to make sure to equip you with all the skills necessary to represent the Lucian crown proudly.”

“Yeah, Iggy can help you with all the boring etiquette stuff and if you want, I can teach you dance or two so that way you aren’t just standing around talking all night.” Noctis added, which earned quite the incredulous look from the gunner. “What?” Noctis asked, when it seemed that all Prompto was going to do was to stare at him in surprise. “I may not have like it when I was growing up, but as the Crown Prince of Lucis, it was required by my father that I learn a variety of ballroom dances from a very young age, so that I would be able to dance with other young dignitaries during important functions back in Insomnia.” The prince shrugged casually, “That kind of stuff is like riding a bike… no matter how much I might want it to just fade away, that kind of stuff just doesn’t leave you.”

Prompto took a moment to try and picture Noct twirling around some ballroom with visiting guests, all graceful and such and he couldn’t help to stifle a laugh at the thought. It wasn’t that he didn’t think that Noct could do it, it was just that Prompto knew how lazy the raven was and he couldn’t imagine him being able to dance the night away on the arms of so many other women, when the blonde knew that Noct would definitely rather be passed out on the couch or lounging around, playing video games.

“You know, I don’t have to teach you…” Noctis muttered. “I could always sic Ignis on you, and he’s absolutely relentless… I should know.” The prince finished, pouting a little bit at Prompto’s inability to stop the sudden giggle fit he was trying and failing to hold back.

“Oh, come on Noct….! You know I’m just kidding!” Prompto whined as he planted a quick kiss on the raven’s cheek as a small token of apology. “You wouldn’t really do that though, would you?? Letting Ignis loose on me like that?? I might not make it out alive…!” The blonde finished dramatically, albeit with a quick cheesy grin.

“You do know that I am still standing right here, don’t you?” The advisor curtly added before Noctis could make any kind of reply.

The two boys laughed almost in unison and this time it was Noct who spoke up. “Comon Specs, you know that we would be completely and utterly lost without you.”

“Well, now that that’s been settled, it would probably be a good idea for everyone to head off to bed. It looks like we have a long day ahead of us tomorrow and it would be best to be rested and ready to meet the morning when it comes.” Ignis finished as he started pulling down the bed that he and Gladio would be sharing for the night and waiting for Noct and Prompto to do the same before he turned out the light. Tomorrow was certainly going to be a long day.

* * *

 

As promised, Ignis roused everyone bright and early in the morning and practically had to peel the two younger boys in the group out of the warm cocoon of blankets that they had buried themselves in over the course of the night.

“Surely we can sleep in just a little longerrr…. right Noct?” Prompto whined as Ignis tried to shake him awake.

“Yeh… just… j’st five more min’tes… I’m tha princeee… so thereee…” Noct mumbled in a practically incoherent voice, still definitely more asleep than awake.

“I must insist, your highness.” Ignis continued. “Have you already forgotten about your promise to help Prompto prepare for the Gala that is to be held in three days?”

That certainly did the trick to get the raven’s attention as he muttered a quick, “Yeah, yeah- wait. How do you know it’s in three days? I don’t remember there being a date or anything on the invitation…” Noctis asked confused, and yet much more cognizant than he had been moments earlier.

“While you two were still sleeping, I went down to the front desk and inquired with one of the employees as per the directions included in the letter and they told me when the Gala was scheduled to be held, which as I said before, is in three days.” Ignis finished.

“Where’s Gladio?” Prompto asked, his head finally peeking out above the sheets and deciding to rest it instead against Noct’s chest.

“Gladio is already downstairs eating breakfast before we head out to look around for something for Prompto to wear.” The advisor answered, unable to hide his grin when both boys practically jumped out of bed at the idea that they were missing a chance at eating before the group out for the day.

“Comon Noct…! I’m really in the mood for some of those fluffy pancakes we had yesterday morning. Those were the best! No offense, Iggy…” Prompto quickly added the last bit, forgetting that the advisor was still standing right there.

“Get yourselves cleaned up and Gladio and I will meet you two downstairs in the breakfast area.” Ignis replied. “You will be able to accomplish that much on your own without falling back asleep, I hope?”

“Yeah, no promises.” Noctis yawned as he and Prompto regretfully attempted to untangle themselves from each other and dig through their bags to try and find some clean clothes to wear while out walking all around Altissia during the day.

“We will leave in about forty minutes whether you finish breakfast or not, so please do keep that in mind.” The advisor finished as he strode over to the door, confident enough that the two boys before him would not fall back asleep once he left.

It only took a few minutes for both boys to ready themselves to be presentable enough to leave their hotel room despite Noct’s repeated attempts to drag Prompto back to bed so that they could sleep in just a little bit longer. The only reason that Noct allowed himself to be dragged out of the room was when Prompto pointed at that if they were not downstairs by the time Ignis had told them, he would most likely bring Gladio back to the room and the older pair would forcibly remove the younger pair through whatever means necessary _and_ that also meant that they wouldn’t get any breakfast either.

After breakfast, the four boys met together in the lobby and Ignis pulled out his phone where he had typed up a list of potential stores that he had researched earlier that morning by either asking around or just reading reviews that had been posted online. There were all pretty spaced out amongst the city, so it would be an understatement that everyone would be getting their workout for the day.

As Ignis had promised at the very beginning of the day, he directed and led the three others around the beautiful city until they had managed to check out just about every fashion boutique that they could find.

Noctis noticed that Prompto started to get antsy after they had torn through about the first five places, but the clothes were either too expensive or didn’t fit him well and thus Ignis quickly shoved the poor blonde back into the changing room to get everything off before dragging the frazzled gunner to yet another place up the street.

After the tenth store, Prompto was pretty convinced that this had been a horrible idea and had already suggested multiple times that they should just give up and head back to the Leville and try to at least salvage the rest of the day; but Ignis insisted that there were still plenty of places that they hadn’t visited and that it would be a shame to give up so quickly.

“Yeah Iggy… I don’t think that giving up after nearly three and a half hours of searching can really be classified as ‘giving up quickly.’ It’s just realizing that that it just isn’t going to happen.” Prompto spoke up as the group had decided to break for lunch. “Maybe this is some kind of sign that we just shouldn’t be doing this.” The blonde shrugged as he finished off the last of the sandwich that he had ordered, before stealing some of the stray vegetables that Noct had purposefully left on his plate.

“Nonsense.” Ignis countered. “The day is still young and we have yet to really get into the heart of Altissia’s downtown district.”

“Why don’t we go here next?” Noctis suggested casually as he finished off the last of his drink and placed the empty glass back onto the table before indicating a nearby corner store that had been circled on the map that Ignis had brought with them with his finger. “I heard a bunch of people talking about how that place has a collection of formal wear that was inspired by Vivienne Westwood and her work on Luna’s wedding dress. Seems as good a place to go as anywhere else, I would think.” Noctis muttered absentmindedly as he leaned back in his chair and stared off into the distance, thinking about who knew what.

“A capital idea, Noct.” Ignis replied as he started to fold up the map and place it securely back into his jacket pocket. “I will go settle our bill and we’ll head off at once.”

It didn’t take long to get to the store, but the moment Prompto set foot in the store, he knew that this place was _way_ out of his league. The clothing was breathtaking and beautiful, but there was no way that they would be able to afford something of this quality.

As if some sort of secret alarm went off when the four entered the store, they saw a woman approach them almost immediately and Prompto was convinced that she was here to ask them to leave, or at least ask him to leave, because it was obvious that he had no business being here.

“Good Afternoon, Gentlemen...! Is there anything I can help you find today?” The overly perky saleswoman asked as she approached the group.

“Ah, yes.” Ignis nodded. “We were hoping to look at your formal wear collection… possibly the collection that was inspired by Vivienne Westwood’s dress that was designed for the wedding between the Oracle and Crown Prince of Lucis?”

“Oh yes…! That collection has been incredibly popular since it came out, even despite the actual wedding itself being called off. The designs are simply magnificent and a must have for any dignified person’s wardrobe.” The woman chuckled to herself. “If you would just follow me.”

It hadn’t taken long for Ignis to pull numerous outfits out for the youngest of the group to try. Prompto was currently putting on the third outfit and he had to admit that this one actually didn’t look completely horrible on him, but he shuddered to think of what the price tag would be.

“You done yet, Prom?” Noct called from the other side of the changing room curtain.

“Yeah, gimme a second.” The blonde replied as he finished buttoning the waistcoat and slipped on the suit jacket and stepped outside.

“Wow, Prom. Okay, you should _definitely_ get that one.” Noctis breathed as he couldn’t help but stare at how ridiculously handsome the blonde looked in this particular outfit. The suit itself was a super flattering off-white ivory color and had this absolutely striking golden trim which outlined part of the suit jacket, along with a gold waistcoat which was embroidered with beautiful swirling patterns that seemed to burst all along the length of the waistcoat. It seemed as though it had been specifically made with the chocobo-loving boy in mind all along. “Although now that I think about it… maybe you shouldn’t…”

“W-Why not…?” the gunner stumbled, confused by the other’s sudden change of heart.

“Cause… if you get that, then I won’t be able to keep my hands off you.” The prince winked devilishly.

“N-Noct…!” Prompto squeaked loudly, as he could definitely feel his face heating up as he tried unsuccessfully to bury his face in his hands in embarrassment.

“Okay, but seriously,” The dark-haired youth laughed. “You really need to get that. No-one will ever question that you don’t belong if you show up to the Gala wearing that. I’m pretty sure we could go to a hundred more places and still not find something that looks that good on you.” Noctis noticed that Prompto still looked uncomfortable, but it couldn’t all just be because of his comment just now. There had to be some other reason the blonde was still refusing to make eye contact with him. “What?” he asked. “Don’t you like it?”

“Well, yeah. I do.” Prompto answered earnestly. “But I’m telling you, it doesn’t matter if I like it or not, because I can guarantee that there is no-way that we can afford to buy something like this. Regardless of what any of you say, I know for a fact that this is going to be waaay out of our prince range.”

It was at that moment that the same woman that had greeted them at the door walked into the large dressing area to check and see if they needed anything. “How are we doing back here, gentlemen? Have we made any decisions?” she asked cheerfully. “Oh-” she started as she noticed Prompto still standing outside the curtain in his newest outfit. “I do hope that you intend to purchase this one at least, you look absolutely stunning.”

“T-Thanks…” Prompto quickly replied, unable to think of anything else to say.

“Let’s say we were interested in this particular outfit, what kind of price tag are we looking at?” Ignis asked from where he was sitting quite bluntly.

“Hmmm…” The saleswoman hummed. “Well, this _is_ from one of our most recent collections so...” She paused for a moment before finishing. “I would have to double check, but I’m pretty sure that this particular one would be about… 300,000 gil for the entire set.”

After hearing that, Prompto was surprised that he hadn’t just passed out right then and there. There was absolutely **no way** that they would be able to afford that. Impossible. He wasn’t even sure that they even had that much in the first place, let alone have enough to not go completely broke after everything was said and done.

“Told you, Noct.” Prompto groaned as he quickly started to shed the outer layers of the outfit, worrying that he was soiling them in some way just by wearing them and having absolutely no business doing so. “There’s no way we could buy something like this.”

“Noct…??” The woman suddenly asked, very confused as she completely halted the conversation that she had been having with Ignis. “You… You can’t possibly be…”

“The Crown Prince of Lucis, Noctis Lucis Caelum…? Yeah.” Noctis sighed lightly. “Sorry to break the news to you.”

“H-Hold on one moment...!” The woman called as she quickly disappeared.

“Well, that was fun.” Gladio laughed. “Guess we should probably get of here before the masses gather and we get trapped back here?”

“Hmm… I was really hoping that we could have struck a deal for the suit.” Ignis replied disheartened by the sudden turn of events. “This last one was definitely the most flattering I’ve seen all day… it’s a shame, really.” There was yet another large sigh, “Well nothing to be done about it now, go ahead and change and we will make our leave of this place before things have a chance to get complicated.” Ignis motioned back towards the curtain that the blonde had previously exited from.

The four Lucians had been just about to try and sneak out of the store when the saleswoman returned, significantly more flustered than she had been before.

“I must apologize for my rude behavior, your highness.” The woman curtsied as she approached Noctis. “I had no idea that you were indeed to the Crown Prince of Lucis…”

“Don’t worry about it.” Noctis replied as he waved the woman off. “I really don’t care if people know or not, but I would also like to not get mobbed by people, so if you’ll excuse me…” he finished as he tried to push past her.

“Oh, but your highness…! I was just on the phone with the owner of this humble establishment and she was astounded to hear that _the_ Crown Prince of Lucis was shopping in her store. She told me to tell you that it would be an absolute honor to offer you any of the outfits in her collection at a sharp discount as a thank you for visiting.” The woman was practically trembling at this point, but before Noctis could think of anything to say, Ignis luckily interceded.

“What about the outfit we were discussing before?” The advisor asked passively. “If we could work out a deal with that, I think that we certainly come to some kind of understanding.”

“O-Oh, yes…! Of course!” The saleswoman squeaked before motioning the four men to follow her back into the dressing room.

After all was said and done, Ignis had been able to work out what Prompto thought must have been the deal of a lifetime, only having to pay a small fraction of the outlandish 300,000 gil original price tag, at a measly 30,000 gil.

After they had gotten everything squared away, the boys headed straight back to the Leville so that there wouldn’t be any chance for anything to happen to their newest acquisition.

Noctis passed out on the bed practically the second they got back into the room, and while Prompto was quite tempted to join him, Ignis insisted that there was no time to waste. If the gunner wanted to be ready to proudly represent the Lucian crown, they should start going over the basics of all the royal etiquette that Prompto would need to know for interacting with all of the nobility that would be there.

It hadn’t been so bad for the first hour or so, but after three hours of listening Ignis rattle on and on about seemingly the most insignificant things ever, Prompto was about ready to claw his ears off. If he thought he knew nothing about proper etiquette before, damn… he definitely knew nothing about it now. There was just _so much_ , it made the blonde flash back to all those times that he felt completely and utterly lost during one of his classes in school and he would have to spend time going over everything that he had missed with Noct later that night or over the weekend to try and catch up.

“Hey Specs…!” Noct interrupted the advisor as he had been spouting some nonsense about miscellaneous dinner manners. “Why don’t you give Prom a chance to breathe, yeah? I’m pretty sure that you can only talk to someone for so long before it all just starts to sound like gibberish.”

“I suppose that a short break could be beneficial.” The bespectacled blonde nodded as he put down the book that he had been reading passages out of, while trying to explain the importance of making conversation after finishing a meal. “I think I will go and try to procure some Ebony from one of the hotel vending machines in the meanwhile.” Ignis noted as he withdrew from the room.

“Thanks, Noct.” Prompto yawned as he gratefully rested his head on the dark-haired boy’s shoulder. “I’m pretty sure I could feel my brain liquidating the longer Ignis kept going on and on. How in the world did you manage to learn all this when you were just a kid??” the blonde asked incredulously.

“Well, I didn’t have to learn just about everything there was to know in the span of like two days, so it was a bit easier when it was spread out a lot more I guess?” Noctis chuckled as he started running his fingers softly through the other boy’s blonde locks, to which said blonde let out an audible sigh of contentment and happiness.

“I swear, if I hear Ignis tell me one more thing about which utensil to use for which kind of food, I’m going to lose it.” The blonde moaned.

“Why don’t we go somewhere and grab some dinner and then when we come back we can just relax for the rest of the night? Then, tomorrow we can try and find an empty room and I can start to teach you one of the dances that they will probably have at the Gala. I promise that I won’t bore you to the edge of oblivion like Iggy.” Noct chuckled as he continued running his fingers through Prompto’s hair so as to help the other relax.

“Yeah, food. I could definitely go for some food right now.” The blonde replied as he brought his hand to hover around his stomach. “Man, I am _starving_ …!”

“I’ll text Iggy and let him know we headed out for food and not to expect us back until later.” Noct uttered as he fished around in his pants pocket with his free hand so as to retrieve his phone.

Even though Prompto was incredibly happy and comfortable where they were, he could definitely feel his stomach start to crave food and it only seemed to get stronger by the second, especially since Noct had brought the topic up.

“Kay. Let’s go, I really need to get outside and clear my head after going over all that stuff with Ignis for the last few hours.” Prompto finished as he reluctantly got to his feet and followed Noct up and out the door.

The two boys managed to find a small café that was only a couple minutes’ walk away from the Leville and when they finally returned, both were too exhausted to do anything but collapse back into their bed and play a bit of King’s Knight. It wasn’t much longer after that, that the two boys were curled up underneath the blankets, and proceeded to completely pass out for the remainder of the night.

Before either of them knew it, it was morning and Ignis was once again shaking the both of them awake.

“It can’t possibly be morning already…” The dark-haired prince moaned as Ignis remorselessly whipped opened the curtains and let the full brunt of the sunlight outside stream into the room until the entire room was completely lit.

“Good morning, you two.” Ignis greeted the two still half-asleep boys who had now proceeded to try and use their pillows and each other to block out the light that had just flooded the room. “If you don’t get up soon, you’ll have slept the entire day away and then we won’t have time to continue to prepare Prompto for the celebration tomorrow evening.” This sentiment only serving to elicit more groaning from the two forms still struggling to join the waking world. “I expect to see you downstairs in twenty minutes or less, unless you want us to start the etiquette lessons right here without breakfast first?” The advisor finished with a sly smile.

 It was Prompto who basically catapulted himself off the bed at that particular remark, “Nope…! Nah, I’m up Iggy, I’m up you see?? I’ll be downstairs in no time!” the blonde practically shouted.

“Man Specs, that’s cold.” The raven muttered from where he was still lounging on the bed, trying to find a way to replace the warmth that he had just lost when Prompto had jumped up and out of their bed.

The advisor chuckled, “I will do what I must to get you two up and out of that bed, before you permanently meld together with it.”

“Haha. Verrry funny.” Noctis groaned as he finally pushed himself up just enough so that he was sitting with this chest resting against the backboard of the hotel bed. “Although, I was kind of hoping that I could help Prom by starting to work with him on his dancing after we finished breakfast this morning. You nearly caused him to go brain-dead with all that boring manners talk last night, and I’m not particularly fond of you frying my boyfriend’s brain.” The prince grinned, unable to stifle a soft snicker as he finished.

The advisor brought his hand to his chin in a thoughtful motion as he considered the request. “We will have to pick up where we left off eventually, but perhaps a giving the information a little bit of time to sink in and introducing a little bit of variety could be helpful in this matter.”

“Thanks, Noct.” Prompto muttered gratefully after Ignis had left the room.

“This way, I have something to do and you don’t have to be bored to death until later.” The prince winked as he placed a light kiss on the gunner’s forehead.

“Yeah… that’s going to be fun...” Prompto moaned. He knew that it was important to learn everything he possibly could so as not to embarrass Noct or anyone else, but damn he hadn’t realized exactly _how much_ there was to know about just everything… it was utterly exhausting to say the least. But if going through all of this meant that he would be able to remain by Noct’s side, he would do it.

“Comon Prom, let’s head down and grab some breakfast.” Noctis spoke up as he managed to shrug on a clean-looking shirt and pants that he had randomly just pulled out of his bag.

“Coming…!” Prompto quickly replied as he dug haphazardly through his own bag looking for just about anything that would suffice and heading over to meet the dark-haired youth waiting for him at the door.

* * *

 

After stuffing themselves silly at breakfast, Noctis and Prompto decided to wander off and try to see if they could find an empty room somewhere in the hotel that they could use to start teaching Prompto some basic ballroom dances.

“Okay so, I was thinking that we could start off with a Waltz since there’s a good chance that it will come up at some point during the Gala, and it’s a dance that as long as it is broken down, even beginners can pick up pretty quickly.” The Lucian prince started, after taking a moment to try and think about which dance he should show Prompto first.

“First, we need to stand a few inches apart and we want to take steps which follow a 3-beats-per-measure tempo.” Noctis instructed as he wrapped his right arm around the blonde’s so that he was able to rest his hand in the middle of Prompto’s back and then grabbed the gunner’s right hand with his left. Prompto simply nodded as he continued to listen intently to Noct’s instructions. “In order to make sure you are keeping the right tempo, it helps to count out loud and take a step for each count.”

“Okay.” Prompto nodded, trying his best to keep pace with Noctis as the prince started leading him through the first few steps.

“Oh, I almost forgot… make sure that you are always trying to keep correct posture during the dance.” Noctis noted when he noticed the blonde’s shoulders were already dropping forwards after a few minutes of the two of them running through the basic moves. “You should always make sure that you are aligning your spine by standing straight up and always try to remember to keep your shoulders pushed back so that they don’t start to slump forwards.”

“Stand straight and keep my shoulders up, gotcha.” Prompto replied, trying to keep in mind all of the important things that Noct had been pointing out as they continued practicing.

“If you ever get confused or lost during the dance, just look at what my feet are doing and try to mirror it as best you can and that should be able to help get you back on track.” Noctis added when he noticed that the blonde would sometimes freeze up while they were in the middle of running through a series of moves that they were practicing.

“Yeah, sorry about that.” Prompto apologized quickly. “It’s just a lot to remember, ya know?”

“Don’t worry about it.” The raven smiled as he landed a quick, reassuring kiss on the blonde’s forehead. “You’re actually doing really well. You’re already doing better than some of the girls that I have had the misfortune of being paired with during balls before.” Noctis laughed.

“I know you’re just saying that so I don’t feel so bad about sucking big time…” Prompto moaned in response. He knew that he was doing abysmally and he really didn’t want Noct trying to make him feel better when he didn’t deserve it.

“I’m actually not,” Noctis continued to laugh as the two boys continued their way through the steps that they were currently working through. “You’re _much_ easier on the eyes too. Maybe all those fancy functions back in Insomnia wouldn’t have been so mind-numbing if I had taught you this kind of stuff a few years ago. It definitely would have saved me a helluva lot of trouble trying to pick a dance partner amongst the sea of women that were just dying for a chance to dance with me. I could have just told them that I was already taken and solved that problem right then and there.” Noctis winked and Prompto couldn’t help but smile at the fact that he had somehow been lucky enough to be the one that the raven-haired prince had chosen in the end.

The lesson went on for a few hours and while Prompto certainly wouldn’t argue against being able to spend time with the other male, he found himself getting really easily frustrated that they had been practicing for what he felt like was forever and he still wasn’t really getting to a point where he felt like he was making any kind of significant improvement. Noct constantly had to remind him to keep up his posture, he always seemed to be a step or two behind the raven _and_ he didn’t even want to think about what would happen when they started trying to put everything to music. That was a train wreck that he wasn’t quite ready to put himself through.

The two only took a break when Noct glanced at his phone while Prompto was sitting down resting, while gulping greedily from a water bottle that Ignis had brought by, and they realized that they should probably go and grab some dinner.

“I don’t think I can make it Noct…” Prompto moaned from where he was splayed out on the floor. “My legs are definitely not working anymore… I’ll be forever stuck in this room because you decided you wanted to kill my legs with all that dance stuff...!”

“Suit yourself, I’m going to go grab some dinner. They’re having this special fish thing on the menu tonight that I really want to try.” The prince replied playfully as he started striding casually towards the room’s exit.

“Nooooctt…! That’s not what you’re supposed to say…!” Prompto whined loudly. “You’re supposed to sweep me off my feet and tell me that you would _never_ leave me behind…!”

“Yeah, that’s definitely not going to happen.” Noctis smirked as he tried to stifle a short yawn. “I’m way too exhausted for that, the only thing you’re going to see me doing for the rest of the night is to collapse onto our hotel bed and maybe play some King’s Knight if I’m up to it.”

“So much for my knight in shining armor eh, Noct?” Prompto chuckled as he managed to finally sit himself up so that he could extend his hand for said prince to help pull him to his feet.

“Eh, those guys are overrated.” Noctis shrugged as he pulled the blonde up so that he was finally standing and the two started talking animatedly about the newest update for Kings Knight that was scheduled to be released tomorrow, while they made their way to meet up with Gladio and Ignis for dinner.

The rest of the evening went by pretty quickly. Prompto had managed to convince Noct to run through the dance that they had been working on a few more times once he had bribed him with half of his dessert in return and Noct had accepted the terms gladly.

Eventually, when both Noct and Prompto were about to collapse, Noct was finally able to convince the blonde to come back to the room with him and they were able to play King’s Knight for all of fifteen minutes or so, before the blonde was out like a light, opting to use Noct’s chest as a pillow as he practically wrapped his entire body around the raven-haired boy next to him.

“The Gala is tomorrow evening; do you think he’s going to be ready?” Gladio asked curiously from where he was sitting up against his bed’s headboard, reading one of the books that he had packed away for the long journey.

“I believe that, is up to Prompto.” Ignis answered as he finished cleaning off his glasses and placed them back upon his features.

“He’s been working his ass off.” Noct stated confidently as he started running his fingers softly through the gunner’s fluffy blonde hair absentmindedly. “I know he’ll be ready, even if he doesn’t think he will be. He just needs to stop psyching himself out, that’s all.”

“I guess we’ll just have to wait and see, won’t we?” Ignis added.

“Yeah.” Noctis nodded as he watched the blonde’s chest rise and fall slowly as he slept on peacefully, completely unaware of the conversation going on around him. “He’ll be great, you’ll see.”

“I don’t doubt that for a second.” The advisor smiled softly.

* * *

 

The next morning, Ignis was completely astounded that when he went to wake up the two younger boys and drag them out of bed as he had done the past few days. As he approached the bed, he distinctly noticed that there was only one person currently curled up in the mass of sheets and the blonde gunner, who was normally attached to Noctis at the hip around this time, was no-where to be seen.

“Noct... Noct...? Wake up.” Ignis said loudly as he tried to shake the young prince awake. “Where is Prompto?”

“Hmm… what…?” Noct mumbled tiredly as he tried to swat away the advisor’s intruding hand. “W’ats about Prom…?”

“Well, if you would open your eyes, you would notice that he is no longer in bed with you.” Ignis clarified for the still half-asleep prince.

It was this statement that seemed to allow the realization to dawn upon the raven-haired prince at last. “Wait… where’s Prom?” he asked quickly, breaking through the last bit of sleepiness that held him down.

“That is indeed the question, isn’t it?” Ignis replied as he returned to his original query, hoping he would receive a much more cognizant answer from the prince.

“Well…” Noctis paused as he tried to think of where the blonde could have run off to so early in the morning. “He was still pretty frustrated with his dancing yesterday evening after dinner… maybe he went down to practice a little more?” he wondered aloud. “I’m not really sure how much he’s going to be able to practice on his own, but I’ll go ahead and check the room where we were practicing yesterday. If anything, he’s probably there.” Noctis finished as he got on some clothes and quickly headed out the door, leaving behind the advisor and the still slumbering shield.

“Prompto…!” Noctis called as finally arrived at the room where the two of them had pretty much spent the majority of the day before practicing.

The moment he heard Noct’s voice, Prompto quickly turned his head away from the incoming raven-haired male.

“Hey,” Noct called again, much softer this time. “How come you’re down here so early? You couldn’t possibly have eaten breakfast already… I don’t even think the place opens for another half-hour or so.”

“S-Sorry, Noct…” The blonde stammered as he attempted to apologize, “I didn’t mean to worry you or anything,” the blonde paused as he tried to wipe something out of his red and irritated eyes. “I-I just wanted to see if I could come down and practice without having to wake you up, but I just… I dunno.” He sighed. “Pretty much the second I came down here, I couldn’t remember anything that we had done yesterday, and so I guess, I dunno… I guess, I just got really frustrated with myself.”

The prince quickly closed the remaining distance between him and the blonde and wrapped his arms around the other in a tight, quick hug. “You really need to stop freaking yourself out so much about this, okay?” When that didn’t seem to elicit much of a response from the blonde, Noctis decided to start covering the blonde’s neck with quick, light kisses, which made the blonde start to tremble slightly.

“N-Noct…! S-Stop t-that t-tickles…!” The blonde giggled as he jumped every time he felt Noct’s lips press against the sensitive skin on his neck.

“I’ll… I’ll only stop if you promise to just relax… and let me help you through this… promise?” Noctis said in parts between his continued attempts to kiss as many parts of the blonde’s neck as he could manage.

“F-Fine…! I p-promise… j-just s-stop…!” Prompto couldn’t help but continue to giggle at the unrelenting raven’s kisses. It was just so unfair how ticklish he was… and the fact that Noct wasn’t ticklish made it all the more worse, because the blond could never get back at him the same way that Noct could.

“Okay, so let’s do a bit more practicing and then in let’s say like an hour, we should definitely go get some breakfast. And if you _really_ want to, we could always come back here for a little bit afterwards to do a little bit of final practice. Sound like a plan?” Noctis asked as he finally was able to pull himself away from the blonde’s neck.

“Yeah, okay. Though, you’ve certainly gotten your work cut out for you.” Prompto half-joked.

“That’s okay. It’s worth it as long as I’m with you.” The prince winked as he led the gunner back to the center of the room and the two started drilling the move set that they had been working on the previous day.

* * *

 

“I’m really not sure why you’re so worried about this… you’re doing really well.” Noctis noted after he and Prompto had been practicing the dance for a little over an hour or two after they had come back from breakfast.

“I just want to make sure that I get it all right for tonight.” Prompto replied anxiously. “I know people are going to be watching me, and I don’t want to make you look stupid…”

“I’m pretty sure I already told you that I don’t really care about anything like that.” Noctis came back. “And before you say anything about not wanting to make yourself look bad, don’t.” The raven quickly added before the blonde could get in a chance to say anything. “You know, you really should give yourself more credit… you’re actually doing really well considering you just started learning yesterday.”

“That’s easy for you to say.” The gunner complained. “But we’ve been doing this forever and I’m constantly out of line and I almost always end up falling at least one to two steps behind you. I can’t ever seem to remember to keep my elbows up, or relax and keep my shoulders rolled back. We just started trying to dance to the music this morning and I can never seem to time my movements just right. They’re going to know Noct…! Everyone is going to know that I don’t belong there after like two seconds-”

“Geeze, Prom. You really need to take two seconds and just relax.” Noctis couldn’t help but laugh. “All of that stuff will come to you if you would just take a deep breath and try to relax. Don’t get so caught up with everything in your head or you’re never going to be able to wrap your mind around it. You just have to take a deep breath, look at me, and know that this isn’t just a one-man job. Dancing is a two-person thing for a reason, and I promise, I’m going to be here for you the entire time.”

“I guess…” Prompto sighed, still not entirely convinced by the raven’s words of assurance.

“I’ve said it all before and I will say it again, You. Are. Going. To. Be. Fine.” Noctis replied quite forcefully, actually taking the time to stop the two of them where they were in the middle of the dance so that he could look the blonde straight in his eyes.

“Well I’m glad that at least one of us is confident about that…” the blonde laughed nervously.

“Okay, you know what?” Noctis came back almost instantly.

“What…?” Prompto asked, unsure of what was going to follow.

“You, me, and Kings Knight; up in our room, until we have to leave.” Noctis confidently stated. “I think the best thing we can do right now is just to forget about all this craziness and relax for a little bit. That way you’ll be rested and ready to go by the time we need to head out tonight. And no… that’s not up for debate.” Noctis grinned when he noticed the blonde about to open his mouth to protest.

“But… you… ugh- fine.” Prompto caved as he held his hands up in surrender. “You got me. I have to say that I could _really_ use some chill time before tonight.”

“Great.” Noctis chimed in response as he started leading said blonde out the door and up to their ever-beckoning hotel room. “Race you back to the room?” he asked, his eyebrows raised.

“As long as you don’t cheat and warp your way up to the room…!” Prompto exclaimed, having made the same mistake once before and losing out on one of Ignis’s special desserts because of it. Never again… never again would he make the same mistake twice.

“Damn Prom… you sure know how to kill all the fun out of things.” Noctis sighed as the two boys took off. “Fine… but only because it’s you.” He chuckled, shooting back out into the lobby and running as quickly as his feet could carry him.

True to Noct’s promise, the two boys spend the majority of the rest of the day relaxing in their room either watching random movies or playing King’s Knight together and it seemed to accomplish exactly the objective that the Lucian prince had been hoping it would. Prompto was much more his usual goofy and playful self and they didn’t talk about anything that had to do with the event that night.

It was only brought up once Ignis and Gladio both came back up into the room and Ignis had to remind both Noct and Prompto that they would be leaving for the Gala in about an hour and Ignis wanted everyone to be all ready to go in thirty minutes, just in case anything happened to put them behind schedule.

“The Gondola that will take us over to the Gala is due any minute…” Ignis called loudly as he silently went over a mental checklist in his mind to make sure that they weren’t forgetting anything important. It would be in very bad taste if they ended up having to leave the Gala early because they had forgotten something back at the hotel. “Does everybody have everything? Have we all used the facilities? We certainly don’t want to be responsible for keeping the guest of honor from his own celebration.”

“I got Prom, so I’d say we’re good to go, Specs.” Noctis replied casually, pulling the blonde gunner that had been standing awkwardly next to him closer so he could wrap his arm around said blonde’s shoulder. Half just to bring Prompto closer to him, and half to make sure that he didn’t try to duck out at the last moment.

“You really sure you want me to come to this Noct?” The blonde gunner asked, slightly hoping that the prince would let him off the hook, but also knowing feel a small shred of pride in the fact that Noct had worked so hard to make sure he felt included with the rest of the group.

“Like that’s even a question Prom.” The raven laughed. “I don’t spend all day teaching someone I don’t care about to dance if I don’t intend to show them off later.”

“Prompto, you know his royal laziness wouldn’t put in that much effort for just anyone.” Gladio agreed with a deep chuckle. “You’re the one that picked him, though for what reason, I certainly don’t know.” He finished with a smirk at the death glare that he thusly received from said prince.

Noctis was about to call Gladio some very colorful names, when a very important looking man crossed the threshold of the hotel lobby and quickly approached the group of four.

“Do pardon me Gentlemen, but is it safe for me to assume that you four are the royal party accompanying his highness, Noctis Lucis Caelum, heir to the Lucian throne?” The man bowed deeply as he greeted the four Lucians.

“That is indeed us.” Ignis confirmed as he indicated Noctis, who was still standing behind the advisor, his arm still slung around Prompto’s shoulders. “May I introduce you to his Highness, Noctis Lucis Caelum.”

The man bowed once again and Noctis nodded in acknowledgment. In reality, Noct really didn’t care for all the formalities, but for right now it would probably make things less complicated if he just went with it for the night.

“If you four would please follow me, I will gladly show you to your private Gondola.” The man declared as he turned around and headed back out of the hotel.

“Well, here we go…” Noctis hummed as he followed the man and the two other members of his retinue, while opting to bring his hand down, so that he could grab tightly onto the gunner’s supportively.

“Guess there’s no backing out now…” Prompto muttered almost silently to himself as he took a deep breath and let Noctis lead him away from the safety of the Leville, hoping to god that he didn’t regret his decision to go along with everyone else to this Gala.

* * *

 

If you had asked Prompto what he had been expecting when they arrived at the Gala, he would have definitely expected it to be pretty crowded and crazy, but the absolute insanity that they walked into when they arrived at the site of the Gala was something that was on an entirely different level than he had ever imagined in his wildest dreams.

If Prompto had to guess, he would have thought that the _entirety_ of Altissia had showed up for the event. Even if not everyone was actually going into the absolutely massive and beautiful building, there was what seemed like an actual ocean of people that were crowding around the gates that surrounded the entrance to the actual event venue. It seemed as though everyone in all of Eos wanted to get a glimpse of the Oracle and her formerly betrothed, the Crown Prince that would undoubtedly soon ascend to become the King of Lucis, Noctis Lucis Caelum.

Once Prompto and Noct were able to make their way past the entryway of the gates, you might think that things would calm down a little bit, but that was definitely not the case. Whereas before they had been mobbed by citizens hoping to see the Prince and the party that accompanied him; now they had all sorts of large fancy cameras, reporters, and microphones constantly shoved in their face with everyone trying desperately to get a comment they could use to cover the biggest celebration that Altissia had seen for many years.

“Were things always this crazy back in Insomnia, or am I just completely missing something?” Prompto asked the raven-haired prince, who was diligently making sure that he followed very closely behind Ignis, while also not getting too far ahead of Gladio.

“Yeah, unfortunately this is pretty much par for the course for some of the larger celebrations that we would hold back in Insomnia.” Noctis replied mostly unaffected by the chaos that seemed to be going on around him. “Just make sure you don’t get separated from me.” Noctis quickly added. “If they even think they can get a quote out of you, they will do just about anything to keep a hold of you for as long as possible.”

A sharp chill shot up the blonde’s spine at the mere thought of being separated from Noct in this madness. He tried to remember all the pointers that Iggy had taught him earlier about how to act while arriving at an event as they continued to make their way into the venue.

_Always smile, and be sure to wave._ The advisor voice resounded in his head. _You don’t want anyone snapping a picture that could be taken out of context._ So Prompto did his best to put on his best smile and wave as energetically as he could at the crowd, while making sure the fingers in his other hand were tightly laced with Noct’s, so as not to lose the dark-haired youth in the midst of the crowd.

It seemed like a miracle when they finally made it inside the actual venue. The building that they were in was astoundingly large and the main ballroom where all the main events would be taking place was larger than Prompto had ever seen. The dance floor itself took up a good portion of the room and then around the outside of said dance floor, there were what seemed to be hundreds of tables scattered around the rest of the available space. The rest of the open space was occupied by a large stage, right at the head of the dance floor, which boasted what looked like an entire live orchestra already playing away as the guests slowly streamed into the exquisitely decorated space.

“I believe our table is over this way.” Ignis spoke up as he continued to lead the three other Lucians through the quickly crowding space towards a table that seemed to be raised slightly higher than any of the other tables present in the room.

“Oh great…” Prompto muttered to himself as they approached the indicated table. “As if I didn’t have enough to worry about…”

“I can’t say I’m thrilled about it either, but considering that this whole thing is for me and Luna, it’s not really all that surprising that they would want us to be the center of attention.” Noctis noted as he squeezed the hand that was still gripping Prompto’s. “At least it looks like people are just mingling right now while everyone is still arriving, so we don’t have to sit up there right now if you don’t want to.”

“Yeah,” Prompto muttered gratefully. “I would definitely be good for that.”

As people continued pouring into the grand hall, more and more people seemed to gravitate over towards Noctis and company, and why not? He was one of the two main guests of honor. It seemed that while Ignis had informed everyone that Luna had indeed arrived, she seemed to be off elsewhere for the time being, no doubt also being surrounded by a large number of people wanting to be able to talk with the newly rediscovered and still breathing Oracle.

Prompto still wasn’t exactly thrilled with all the attention and with so many people’s focus on him, but luckily most of that attention was not in fact on him, but on Noctis, who faithfully didn’t wander and leave Prompto all by his lonesome.

For a second, Prompto thought that maybe… just maybe he would be able to make it through the night without any major issues... he was perfectly happy to do nothing but stand faithfully by Noct’s side for the rest of the night, not garnering any more attention that absolutely necessary. He knew he didn’t belong at some big thing like this, but maybe just maybe if things continued this way, no-one would have to find out about how much of an outsider he actually was.

And then Prompto’s stomach felt like it dropped out of his chest, when without warning, the music came to a very short pause and Prompto could hear the melodious rhythm that was very similar sounding to the music that had been playing while he had been dancing with Noct earlier that same morning. Seconds later, a number of couples drifted gracefully towards the center of the dance floor and kicked off the flow of many other couples to the dance floor.

“Hey uh, Noct…? Where’s the bathroom? I think I need to-” the blonde started to ask.

“Yeah, I don’t think so, Prom.” Noctis interjected quickly before the blonde had a chance to finish. “I know exactly what you’re trying to do and it’s not going to work.” He smirked as he thanked the woman that he had been talking to just now and turned to face the uneasy gunner. “The second I let you disappear off to the bathroom, I can guarantee you that I won’t see you for at least the next hour and don’t think that I didn’t just realize all the couples heading out to the dance floor.”

“B-But really, Noct… I-I’m just not feeling so great all… all of a sudden. Maybe I s-should-” Prompto stammered nervously.

“Hey, it’s okay.” The young prince stopped the blonde in mid thought and assured him with a quick, comforting smile. “I know that you’re really nervous because you’ve never been to something like this before, but those are just your nerves getting the better of you. I promise that you’ll see that everything will be fine once we start dancing. If you get nervous just keep looking at me, just forget about everyone else okay? They don’t matter… it’s just you and me practicing back in that little room back in the Leville.” Noctis continued as he brought his hands up to the blonde’s tense face and placed a quick kiss on the other’s trembling lips.

“Prompto Argentum… would you do me the honor of accompanying me to the dance floor for this dance?” Noctis said as sweetly as he could possibly manage, grabbing one of Prompto’s now free hands and placing a second kiss right on the top of his outstretched hand.

“Etro almighty, Noct… why do you have to be so damn convincing?” Prompto whined as he let himself be led out onto the awaiting dance floor against his better judgement.

Prompto did his absolute best to dance exactly the way he had when they had been practicing before back at the Leville just like Noct had said. However, he unfortunately couldn’t ignore the fact that practically the second he and Noct walked out to the dance floor, it seemed as though the entire world had come to a halt and once everyone noticed the young Lucian prince come on to the dance floor, everyone was entranced to see who it was that he had decided to dance with, with quite a lot of people surprised and confused that it wasn’t the breathtakingly beautiful Lady Lunafreya, but instead some seemingly random blonde male who was a complete unknown to anyone other than those who had accompanied him.

“Noct... everyone’s staring…” Prompto whispered nervously, fear and anxiety quickly building in the pit of his stomach once again. “I’m doing something wrong, aren’t I? Why else would everyone in the room be staring at us? I’m sorry… I’m- I’m trying to just relax and do everything like we did before, but I just can’t concentrate knowing that everyone is watching…”

“Don’t worry about it, Prom. You’re doing just fine.” Noctis whispered back and Prompto was astounded at how level and calm his voice and stature. But Prompto guessed that Noct was pretty used to being stared and gawked at, so this was probably nothing new to him; but to Prompto… this was definitely not something he had any real experience with. “Just keep your eyes on me and keep doing what you’re doing.” Noctis continued to whisper into the blonde’s ear as they continued to move, spin and twirl all over the dance floor.

It seemed like the song went on forever and Prompto was terrified that he would be forced to continue dancing endlessly for the rest of the night with all those piercing eyes continuing to watch his every move, when he _finally,_ finally heard the music come to an end and he felt as though he might pass out right there on the spot. He knew that his dancing still left much to be desired, but he hoped to the astrals above that he had done enough not completely sully Noct’s reputation in front of everyone present. 

Sensing the uncertainty swirling around within his partner, Noct quickly started to lead the obviously exhausted blonde back towards their table while whispering assurances that he had done himself proud.

“You still with me, Prom?” Noctis joked as both he and the gunner had finally made their way back to their seats and Prompto had practically collapsed on top of the large round table, breathing deeply as he tried to calm down his heart that seemed as though it was trying its best to burst completely out of his chest.

“You’re not going to make me go out there again are you, Noct?” Prompto asked, his voice muffled slightly as his head was still lying face down on the table. “I did it, but I don’t think I could take having all that attention focused on me again, I don’t know how you manage it.”

“Yeah, having all that attention on you at all times is pretty annoying and also scary at first, but you eventually learn to just tune everybody else out.” Noctis replied, chuckling a little at finally having seen someone else being able to appreciate or not so appreciate having to deal with all the attention that being a member of royalty always seemed to bring.

“Noctis…! It’s so good to finally see you again after all these years…!” A voice called as it got closer and even though it had been over a decade since he had heard it, Noctis recognized it instantly.

“Luna…” The Lucian prince breathed, his voice catching just a bit and part of him could barely believe that he was able to reunite and finally talk once again with the childhood friend that he had not seen since he and his father had been forced to flee from Tenebrae after Niflheim had attacked in an attempt to go after him and his father while he had been recuperating there. “I can’t believe you’re actually here…”

“I could say the same thing.” Luna chuckled lightly as Noct stepped forward and the two quickly enveloped the other in a tight embrace. “And you,” After the two had finally separated themselves, the young oracle turned her attention to the other occupant of the table. “You must be Prompto. I’m so very glad that I could finally meet you.” She smiled deeply and Prompto couldn’t help but feel invigorated by the Oracle’s wide smile and the light that she seemed to bring into the room.

“L-Lady Lunafreya…!” Prompto stuttered as he did his best to jump to his feet and bow before the woman that although he had never met, had been able to completely change his life. Without Luna’s letter encouraging him to becoming friend’s with Noct, Prompto had absolutely no idea what would have happened to him. “It’s a true h-honor to finally meet you…!”

“I assure you Prompto, the honor is all mine.” The oracle smiled once again. “And please feel free to call me Luna. I’m glad that Noctis has someone like you to remain ever at his side. You two dancing together just now was absolutely mesmerizing and I don’t think I’ve ever seen two people more perfect for each other.” Luna finished and it took a moment for Prompto to actually process exactly what the oracle had just said. She… the freaking Oracle herself… she couldn’t possibly have complimented him of all people, right?

“R-Really… you didn’t think that it was completely awful?” The very confused and astonished gunner asked as he raised himself further off the table.

This elicited yet another soft chuckle from the Oracle. “No, of course not. I thought you and Noctis here matched particularly well. It was very nostalgic and almost reminded me of some of the old dances that we would hold back when things were more… simplistic back in Tenebrae.”

Something about the way that Luna talked, the genuine happiness that seemed to radiate as she spoke, quickly touched Prompto and where just a few seconds ago he had felt almost nauseous and ready to collapse on this table for the rest of the night… Now he felt as though all of his anxiety, all of his fears and worries, had simply dissolved into thin air. There was no deception in Luna’s voice when she had complimented his dancing with Noctis, and that was something that neither Iggy, nor Gladio; not even Noctis could have accomplished. Maybe all of that hard work that he had been putting in the past few days hadn’t been for nothing after all. Suddenly, it didn’t matter that Prompto had only started learning about how to act while in the company of royalty and nobility. If he was doing good enough for the six-blessed Oracle, then that must mean that he had managed to do something right, didn’t it?

“Thank you, Luna.” Prompto quickly jumped up with a renewed energy as he bowed deeply. “Really, it means a lot coming from you. I really can’t thank you enough.” The gunner finished as he smiled more broadly that he had for quite a few days.

“It was absolutely fantastic seeing you again Noct, and of course meeting you Prompto.” Luna smiled as she gave Noctis another quick hug. “I’m hoping that we will have a chance to catch up a little more once they have started to serve dinner, but for now if you’ll excuse me, I really should be going. I’m afraid that as much as I would love to stay and chat with you two, I must make sure that I am able to talk with as many people as I can to help continue to inspire the citizen of Eos to hope that we will make it through these trying times.”

“Aw man…” Prompto’s smile slightly fell, but thanks to Luna’s words his lifted spirit did not falter. “See you later I guess, Luna. Thanks again!” He waved as the young blonde waved back and disappeared through the sea of people around them.

“Well what are we waiting for Noct??” The blonde asked with more energy than he had had all day. “Let’s go out and show everyone else how it’s done!”

“What happened to, ‘I can’t take having all that attention on me’ thing?” the surprised and yet also thoroughly amused raven asked as he was practically dragged up and away from the table that they had been sitting at.

“Well, we put in all that work learning this damn thing, so we might as well not let it go to waste, right?” Prompto joked in much the way that Noct normally experience when they were hanging out together doing something simple and easy like playing King’s Knight or just walking around town by themselves.

“As long as you know what you’re getting yourself into.” Noctis chuckled as they finally made their way onto the dance floor and started right along with the music to join in with all of the other dancers.

Unlike the first time where Noctis had been the one to drag Prompto out onto the dance floor, the entire floor didn’t seem to clear out and in fact no-one seemed to even bat an eye or otherwise notice that the two boys had joined in. Noct could instantly tell a difference between the Prompto who was dancing now as though it were second nature, and the Prompto who he had practically had to walk and talk through the entire routine before. There were no worry lines creasing the other’s face and if Noctis didn’t know any better, he could have sworn that the blonde was actually enjoying himself as they continued to practically glide across the dance floor together.

“Wow, Prom. If I had known that Luna would have this kind of effect on you, I would have tried to get in contact with her as soon as we got the invitation.” The prince grinned as still tried to wrap his mind around how drastically Prompto’s entire disposition had changed after just exchanging a few simple words with Luna.

“I’m not even really sure how it happened myself. I guess I just needed to hear it from someone who was a completely neutral party in all of this in order to actually truly believe what they were saying was the truth.” The blonde replied earnestly.

“Regardless, I’m glad to see you actually enjoying yourself.”

“Yeah, me too.” Prompto grinned as the two continued on without interruption with their dance, despite holding a completely casual conversation alongside it. There was a bit of silence between the two, but it was soon broken by the blonde once more. “Hey… uh- thanks Noct for not giving up on me.” The gunner smiled a bit sheepishly. “I know I was kinda a pain the past few days, but I’m really glad that I was able to come with you to this thing after all.”

“You are one-hundred percent welcome, Prom.” Noctis replied, “I can’t think of anyone else in the world that I would rather have in my arms right now, other than you.” Right as the song ended, Noctis dipped the skinny gunner deep towards the ground and when he brought him back up, he couldn’t help but to pull Prompto into a deep kiss and at that moment nothing else mattered, except the two of them being there together.

Ignis couldn’t help but smile as he watched the two younger Lucians continue to glide and twirl gracefully along the dance floor, especially thinking about how far they had both come to get to this point after only a short couple of days. He had always known that Prompto certainly had the capability to be able to pull it off, it had really just been more of a question of whether or not he would be able to meet the challenge mentally more so than physically.

“I am truly in your debt, Lady Lunafreya.” Ignis said gratefully as he took a small sip of the glass of champagne that he had picked up from one of the roaming waiters. Both Ignis and Luna had been standing side by side, watching as the Lucian prince seemed to glow with pride as he witnessed the blonde finally come to the realization that he had never had anything to really worry about in the first place. “I believe that your words of encouragement were just what our young Prompto needed to finally allow himself to relax and actually start enjoying himself. That is something that as close as we all are, not even Noct would have been able to accomplish.”

“You really have no need to thank me.” Luna replied softly. “I can assure you that I was already genuinely impressed by the ability and chemistry of the two of them long before you pulled me aside. They complement each other quite perfectly don’t you think, Ignis? There is no-one else here that would even come close to what those two have together; even I myself would pale in comparison.” The oracle smiled with an almost longing smile. She wouldn’t admit that there had been real disappointment when she realized that the wedding had been called off; but looking at the two in front of her, it was almost like it had been a sign from the astrals themselves… and Luna was at least glad that Noctis had found the one that he truly belonged with even after everything that had happened already and especially with what he would still have to face in the future. At the very least, through it all they would have each other.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading!
> 
> Comments are always appreciated. :)
> 
> Free to check out my blog on tumblr! [ever-at-your-side-15](https://www.tumblr.com/blog/ever-at-your-side-15)


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